Compost not Landfill

Compost not Landfill

Only 40% of food waste is recycled, meaning hundreds of thousands of tonnes goes into Victorian landfill each year.

The Greens have a plan to reduce and recycle food waste, helping both our environment and the economy.

Our household food waste doesn’t have to go to landfill, producing methane and leachate and poisoning our environment. Instead, we could be creating a statewide system that takes Victoria’s household food waste, recycles it into compost, and returns it to the environment to grow and replenish community gardens, farms, sportsgrounds and parklands.

Victoria already has five metropolitan councils and eleven regional councils running food and green organics (FOGO) recycling services. To extend this to every Victorian household would cost $200 million and would see Victoria reap major environmental and financial returns.

The Greens’ Compost Not Landfill plan delivers:

Kerbside collection of household food and green waste through a statewide rollout of the 3-bin collection system. Our plan also includes education and practical support for Victorian households, businesses and farmers about collecting this waste.

Support for local councils in the transition - Offsetting council costs in relation to bin delivery, the standardisation of bin colours, additional truck services and additional costs for regional versus metro councils;

Major increases in organics recycling capacity - Building or investing in organics recycling plants and providing funding and other support for on-site composting.

More funding through the landfill levy - Increasing the landfill levy across different waste streams to ensure market conditions encourage food and green waste recycling and recovery, and support projects that deliver smarter waste management.

Establishing a Circular Economy Centre - The Centre will be an independent research and development hub providing capacity building and knowledge sharing, advocacy, leadership and hosting collaboration of a wide range of stakeholders to accelerate Victoria’s transition to a circular economy.

We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this country as the first inhabitants, and the custodians of the lands where we live and work. We pay tribute to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and give respect to Elders past, present and emerging.